Governor of the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) attended an open session at the Parliament this morning to discuss the recent foreign exchange fluctuations in the market.
The rial plumbed to a record low of 60,000 against the US dollar on the unregulated market on Monday, compared with about 48,000 on April 1.
Seif blamed ‘lack of confidence in the future’ and the enemies of Islamic Republic for the reasons behind the instability in the forex exchange market.
“There are signs of neighboring countries’ plots,” he said. “In the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, some planning is being done to disrupt Iran’s forex exchange market. We need to keep calm and disappoint the enemies [from realizing their plans].”
Seif went on to add that the government will sell the US dollar at a rate of 42,000 rials to all individuals and businesses. The rate was announced last night by Iran’s First Vice President Eshagh Jahangiri.
Seif noted that the rate is reasonable and meets economic indicators, adding that there will be five to six per cent fluctuation in the rate during a year, which will be in accordance with economic variables.
According to him, all foreign exchanges from oil or non-oil transactions, as well as any forex income will be put into a new system that will soon come on stream.
Seif further maintained that the plan to replace dollar with euro in trade transactions will be followed more vigorously this year, since "dollar has no place in our transactions today”. He added that Leader Ayatollah Khamenei has welcomed the decision.
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